How To Kill A Sick Goldfish Humanely?

Lets just put it this way, there is no humane way to kill a goldfish. I have read on the Internet some pretty wild ideas on to supposedly to relieve the goldfish from pain and suffering. I know there are sometimes that you feel like you want to intervene and save your goldfish from more pain, but to kill your goldfish yourself, hmmmmm I don’t know about that. I will talk here about different ways on how to kill a goldfish humanely but call it humane I don’t know.

First off if you are looking at getting rid of your goldfish or other types of fish do not kill them because you don’t want to be in the aquarium hobby anymore or looking to get rid of your goldfish pond. I repeat don’t try and kill your goldfish humanely. The most humane thing one can do is find another home for your goldfish. There are tons of people out there who are eager to take your goldfish off your hands. Think of friends, neighbours and best yet people who have a goldfish pond. I’m sure they would like to add to their goldfish collection. If you can’t find someone you can always contact your local pet store, they will take them off your hands for sure. You could always try calling a local landscaper who specializes in installing ponds, I’m sure he will know people who would. Try and find someone to take care of your goldfish. Never kill goldfish because you don’t want them anymore! That’s just cruel.

Now if you have sick goldfish and have tried treating them but nothing seems to work, then people may consider this alternative. I myself, cannot do it, I would much rather have life take its course and if it’s the goldfish’s time, then it’s his time to go. There is no humane way to kill a goldfish, if it’s gonna die then let it die of natural causes. I know if it was me I would want to fight right to the end, right to my last breath. Give your goldfish a chance.

You’ve all heard and seen on the Internet that the best way on how to kill a sick goldfish humanely is to flush them down the toilet. I repeat no it’s not. This is the worse way that a goldfish can die. It ends up being a long, pain full death. The ammonia will cause irritation to gills and cause the goldfish to suffocate. Never kill a goldfish by flushing them down the toilet, there is no humane way in that.

Now on to the next one, putting your goldfish in the freezer to die. Think about it, you know how much that would hurt. That would be a long pain full death yet again. When I hear people talk about freezing goldfish in a freezer is the best way to humanely kill a goldfish I think of the Deadliest Catch, the show on TV about Alaska crab fishing. There was a man who talked about how he and his friend survived after his boat went down in the extremely cold water. They had a suit on and the water was so cold that one of the guys tried to drown himself cause the cold hurt so much. His friend said hold on someone will come and luckily he did as they were saved moments later as a nearby crab fishing boat spotted them. It was luck or a miracle as the auto pilot steered to the left for some reason and that’s when the captain spotted the men in the water after coming up from getting a bite to eat. You see freezing your goldfish to death would yet be another long pain full death. Putting your goldfish in the freezer to die, there is no humane way in that. Think of the man, he couldn’t stand it anymore that he even tried drowning himself it was that cold.

Now on to the last and final way. It is reported that on how to kill a goldfish humanely is to place your goldfish in a large bag and bang the head of the goldfish sharply against a edge of a table, rock or anything hard and sharp that can cause instant death. Now again, do not kill your goldfish because you don’t want them anymore, this is only to be considered if you cannot stand to watch your goldfish suffer anymore. If there is nothing wrong with your goldfish try and find new parents for them that will take care of your goldfish. So to sum it up the best way to kill a goldfish humanely is to strike the head of the goldfish on a sharp or hard surface causing instant death. Now I know that sounds cruel but that is what many believe is the most humane way to kill a goldfish. You won’t catch me doing it. I have to much of a heart for the little goldfish.

What do you think? What’s the most humane way to kill a sick goldfish? Are there any other methods you’ve heard about on the Internet that may be considered a humane way to kill goldfish? Do you think you could do it? I know I couldn’t. Share your thoughts and stories on this one as it’s a much debated issue about humane ways to kill a goldfish.

42 comments on “How To Kill A Sick Goldfish Humanely?”

Why would someone kill a goldfish anyway? If it is sick, just quarantine it away form the healthy fish and let it die naturally. Of course you could have the same outcome as me. I put one of my fish in “hospice”. While quarantined I kept caring for it as well. I kept it in a dark quiet place so it would not be bothered but I changed the water frequently and made sure the water was always warm. The fish ended up recovering, much to my amazement!

That’s a very good question!I would try and treat the goldfish and if it dies, at least it dies from natural causes rather then killing the goldfish yourself.I’m glad your goldfish recovered. It just shows people to give your fish a chance sometimes they might get better and maybe not. Let your golfish will to survive determine the outcome.I wrote this post on my blog after watching several YouTube videos on how to kill a goldfish humanely. I seen some pretty horrible methods on there. I’m going to post some videos on here shortly from YouTube on how not to kill a goldfish. The thought of getting rid of the pain and suffering is in fact putting your goldfish through a more painful death. The thought may be there for people but they are doing more pain then good. Who says love doesn’t hurt. In this case it would, so people should defintely let there goldfish be and see the outcome. It may surprise people as in your case.That was a very good idea you did by placing your goldfish in a dark quiet place. Light can cause stress and make goldfish more sick and ill. Good job on the wonderful care of your goldfish.

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I agree to let goldfish die naturally. I am hoping my goldfish that have ich will fully recover. We have had 2 of them for 4 years now. dumb me put 2 new fish in after a day and now they all have ich. One of the fish that is 4 years old is having trouble staying at the bottom. He is floating to the top a bit. I hope he will make it. He/she is so pretty.I would never think of killing the fish. Try to the end. One fish that was sick survived by me giving him/her lots of fish salt and other healty chemicals.

Hi Rose,I agree, let goldfish die naturally. Like I said if it’s their time to go then it will happen. Everyone can try and treat their goldfish and if it so happens to die during treatment, then at least people gave them a fighting chance.I just wrote a comment about the ich issue you are dealing with at Treatment For Ich Or White Spot Disease On GoldfishYour goldfish should be fine as ich is very easily treated. As far as the goldfish floating to the top sounds like swim bladder disease. Try feeding your goldfish crushed peas this has been known to help.I loved your comment by try to the end. It just shows people if you try and treat your goldfish they could live. A little bit of tender loving care and some research on the internet with your computer can save your goldfish life. Sometimes just adding aquarium salt can treat many goldfish diseases.Rose I seen you kept on writing his/her so I figured I would show you how to determine the sex of goldfish. Please visit my other post I made on this subject at How To Tell The Difference Between Male and Female GolfishAnyways I hope your goldfish recover from ich soon. Need anymore help please feel free to ask. :)Sincerely,Jamie BoyleThe Goldfish Guy

Are you people nuts? Bang the turds out of your fish on the edge of a table? Thats humane? What if you miss and hit that little target wrong? You also compared a warm blooded HUMAN to a cold-blooded fish when talking about the freezer method. Do you know anything about biology?Bloggers scare me….

Normally I would just delete such a post, but you make me laugh. I think you need to read the post about 10 times to fully understand. Yeah I know about biology but do you understand english. Re-read, research the topic on the internet and see what people say about it then comment once you’ve learned more.Looks like this blog topic on “How To Kill A Sick Goldfish Humanely” is going to be a controversial topic. This is a much debated thing over the internet.**** Please note I in no way support these methods but these are what people believe are humane ways to rid goldfish from pain and sufffering. This is just a blog topic that I’ve written about.****Sincerely,Jamie BoyleThe Goldfish Guy

Letting it die naturally can be one of the most INHUMANE things to do, quite frankly. Depending on the disease, goldfish can die quite agonizingly painful deaths, and the longer you let them go through that, the more inhumane I’d say you are. Would you not put your dog to sleep if it were otherwise going to die slowly and painfully?Do not let your fish die naturally if it’s going to die slowly. Everyone thinks this is okay, and they never think of the goldfish as feeling pain because they don’t squeel or squirm…but they are indeed in very much pain and the most loving thing to do would be to kill them very quickly. even if it is emotional for you. I’m not sure WHICH way would be the most humane….the alcohol and clove oil mixture is popular amd supposedly harmless but it has to be done PRECISELY CORRECT. Anyways…please, please don’t let your fish die naturally. You wouldn’t let a dog or cat suffer so don’t let a fish. I say this not to be judgmental, but only because I am a fish lover, and care about the wellbeing of your fish! And unfortunately they have extremely complex nervous systems and can experience extremely miserable deaths when left to die naturally of disease or infection. Try and consult a fish vet on the best way to put them down!

I have to agree with the person who said that sometimes waiting for you fish to die naturally can be the most inhumane thing to do.I tend to think you should treat you fish the same way you would any other companion animal. You fight for its life as long as it is reasonable to do so. If it becomes obvious that there is nothing left for it but a slow agonising death then you euthanase.Flushing, hitting and freezing are inhumane.The most humane method available at present is an overdose of anesthetic. That is the method use for dogs and cats. In the case of fish clove oil is used as an anesthetic. It makes the fish unconscious and in overdose kill the fish. Most people who have used it then put the fish in the freezer just to make sure it is dead.If you don’t know how to use the clove oil (some people say dissolve it in alcohol some say just shake it in water) properly ask your vet.

I HATE to admit so, but I did have a situation that required killing my goldfish. She was very sick, and treatment didn’t work. I filled a small goldfish bowl with about two inches of water, and emptied an entire vile of clove oil into the water. I mixed it up, and then placed the fish in. She went to sleep, and then died. The process took a few minutes. Afterwords I did freeze the fish.

Help! My goldfish is over 16 years old. He went from orange to white to a bit orange now he's white. He is having a bloating problem lately, the stomach is very large. Also one of his eyes is protruding. What should I do? I was going to euthenize him but can't. Advice is much appreciated. Jen

Trust me, when you can hardly move you body, don't eat anymore and just sit in one spot alll the time, you won't be "fighting till the end". How is it less humane to kill your fish out right than to let it suffer for days while it slowly dies?

I agree with both sides of the "pond". If you want to dispose of a fish because you are tired of him then killing him is wrong unless you plan on eating him.on the other side, letting any animal go thru a slow, painful death is just as bad, I own horses as well as fish, when my 8 year old thoroughbred broke his leg beyond my economical ability to heal him I had him put to sleep which was just as sad and pain full as if he was human family member. My 12 year old koi died two weeks ago, I woke up and found him dead. now his only life long companion (9 year old gold fish) is very depressed and sits on the gravel in the middle of my 55 gallon tank and will not surface to eat so I have been almost hand feeding him to keep him going.the last two days he has started swimming a bit more and seems to be ready for a new friend.

You are all mad!!! Just flush it down the loo!!Or give it to the cat! I did that once and believe me it was a quick death.Sushi is also a idea. I had a friend who served his goldfish up at the dinner table. Everyone loved it. They thought it was a great way to go.

I have been looking after my Grandchildrens Fancy Goldfish as they have emmigrated to Oz {Years ago I hade Tropical Fish} Mermaidia has suffered from Swim Bladder so we have given her, de-frosted, shelled peas, broken into tiny pieces which seemed to help. A few days ago she went off her food and then spent most of her time in the cave, she came out of the cave but mostly lay on the gravel and moved positions now and again, she had no visible signs of infection etc. and the fish are well looked after. It was obvious she was dying as her breathing was now laboured and she was mostly lifeless apart from body jerks every 2 minutes or so and I felt helpless. In desperation I looked on the net and found this site. I looked at everybody's comments and then read Joie's message which I found to be the best for me {being a medical person} I put some of her water in a small bowl with a few inches in depth, put 3/4 of oil of cloves in {difficult to mix as it congeals a bit} and netted her and put her in, within a second she was dead. I left her in for a few hours to make sure she was properly dead, she is out of her misery now but I am very tearful. I can't believe that people put fish down toilets or straight into a freezer. They have feelings {probably more than a lot of humans} Treat them with respect !! I will check with my vet the next time I visit with my dog and put a posting on this site with his advice. Thankyou Joie XX

hahahahaha. my poor wee gold fish is dying… i believe it is for want of a better description constipated… i have tried the pea method, but to no avail… its littel tummy is over swollen, and i cant help thinking that for the size of this tiny creature, it must be in great pain. I have no clove oil in the house and cat bare to watch the little thing struggle any more,, any other ideas with regards to putting it out of its misery, i cant hit it off a table, apart from any thing else it might explode!… help???

My goldfish has dropsy and his skin is slowly splitting apart. If I don't put him down soon, he will explode…Do you really think it's best to let him die naturally? I mean, think about it. Splitting apart slowly or dying in your sleep?I think I would rather put him to sleep with clove oil then add clear grain alchohol. The chance of recovering from dropsy is extreamely slim and I've tried all the medications and methods I could. He's just slowly getting worse.

Hi Jamie, We have one goldfish left and are unlikely to get anymore (I guess we are waiting for this one to pop his clogs). Of course we are not planning to help him on his way. However, I noticed that you mentioned that goldfish can be moved to family member's ponds?My granddad has a pond in his garden – do you think a goldfish who has lived inside all his life would be safe and happy outdoors?Grateful for your expert advice on this matter. Tamsin

I am considering killing my goldfish. he has a swim bladder infection. we did the pea method and that helped a little. but he just sits at the bottom of the tank and when we feed him he has a big problem finding the food. It's almost like he's blind now. he's lost alot of weight. hes about half the size of our other goldfish we got the same time. it's sad i know but i don't think he's going to snap out of it. I'd like to end his suffering.

ummm gol fish are cold bloodedif you put them in the frezer they will slip into a painless deep sleep very very quickly then die within 8-10 min's they feel NO NO pain from it trust me i'm a marine biolagest so the freezeing method is certainly the MOST humain method

Yesterday my gold fish snow white was swimming on her side, I didn't think much if it until tonight she was just "laying" on her side breathing every so often. I took her out of the take with her friend still in there, and put her in a container with her water in it. I inspected her in the tank and notice that one half of her side (the side facing down) was bleeding and her spine was broken (atleast I think it was as her body from half way down was bent badly) I had no idea what to do, my aunt said to cut her head off as she won't feel a thing, but I couldn't bring my self to do it. So, I took her out of the water, and put her in a little container and put padding in it, with no water. I rubbed her belly as she passed away. This to many people will probably sound horrible, but it is like drowning, and they say that drowning for humans is the least painful way so I thought this might help her. This happened at 9.10 pm tonight, and I am still very emotional about it, but atleast she saw my face as I rubbed her belly and told her how much I loved her.

Plastic bag on chopping board. Then an old rag. Place fish on rag.A very sharp knife. Decapitate. Wrap fish in rag and bag combo and dispose of.From water to death. Approximately one second.Horrible for the executioner. Best for fish. Remember A Very sharp knife.

I agree to let nature take it's course. Not all agree however, but the most humane way I would have to say is to put the fish into clove oil. You can purchase it online or at many stores. When people have to do things such as say trim puffer's "beaks" or any other surgical thing to fish they put a little clove oil into a bowl of water and go to town. It's like putting your dog under for surgery, and after you put them into freshwater and they are fine. Just put twice what you would normally use in the bowl and it would be like putting a dog to sleep. Fast, and painless.

YOh. i have had my effin goldfish for like 2 years and i want it to die already. ive tried everything natural. my mom wont let me kill it. so i emptied some pills in its tank(: if tht doesnt work i think i might just give it some alcohol. nice story bout tha freezr. ur so kindd.

my glod fish has started living upside down for the past month or so, it's at the stage where it cant turn around, it has a red lump on its belly and half its belly is sticking out of the water it is in pain and its horrible to watch especially for my little son, i have had to take iot out of its big tank because the other fish have been biting at it cause its helpless, there has to be something i can do to put it out of its misery, will a pet shop take it???

No pet store will take your goldfish. You can always ask your local pet store for some advice and perhaps maybe they will take a look at your goldfish for your and maybe try and treat it.If not they will most certainly diagnose the disease and show you what goldfish medication to use for treatment.I would try feeding your goldfish some crushed peas to see if this helps. Also this red lump underneath the belly could be an ulcer or anchor worm. It's hard to say without seeing it but this would be my guess.Don't give up on your goldfish yet. It may still have a chance. I've treated some pretty sick goldfish in the past where I thought it would never make it but it did. Give it a chance.Thanks,Jamie BoyleThe Goldfish Guy

I agree with the freezer method. cold-blooded creatures bodies will slow down and they will slip into a painless sleep. The situation is alot different with warm-blooded animals. I've used this method a couple times. I couldn't bare to bang the fish against a table or rock or to decapitate it. Room for too many errors and you might end up prolonging it's agony.

I wish There was some kind of tablet you could buy from the vets or something that would just put them to sleep and send them on their way! One of our fish is on it's last fins, I feel more and more guilty as every day goes by!

Okay so we got :won" these fair sish from the country fair over a yaer ago and put them in a ten gallon tank when we went abnd bought the necessary item sfor them. Atr the same time we purchased 3 other fancy type goldfish and 2 of the fancy ones ended up dying in the past 2 months, and their bodies were mutilated. Lets just say this… the other fish from the fair are now about 4 inches long and the fancies were the medium size sort. No "fish expert" at any of the fish stores mentioned that the fancys shouldnt be mixed with the other "fair goldfish". We had one "Calico Ryukin Goldfish left" and he has so much character. 90% percent of the time he played dead. He would swim and eat upside down and he would swim sideways. We always thought something was wrong with him but then the other times he would swim, eat and sleep normally. The vet we knew said that some just act that way. Plus we checked him him out and he had all his fins, etc. Well here is the thing.. he was fine. then my daughter mentioned he was dead because he was upside down caught under the "bridge decoration and wasnt moving." We have growned to really love "Gordita", that is his name because he loves to eat. I did not have the heart to take him out, so I asked my husband. As soon as he did, Gordita started swimming again, but guess this, he has no eyes. He was tortured by the other fish and has no eyes and is still living. We seperated him from the other fish and put him in his own area. We thought that he would die naturally over the night because we felt it was the most humane way to do it. So what do we do now? Do we continue to keep him seperated and see if he lives and care for him as normal? or is he going to do die because his survival instincts with his eyesight is no longer there? Is he going to do die? It hurts to see him with no eyes and to see that he is hurting and in pain. We put food into his own bowl last night and saw that some of it was gone….. but.. what do we do? any suggestions? My kids are real sad, but I think they will be better off not seeing him hurt. I cannot imagine putting him in the freezer or banging his head against a sjarp object or putting him back into the tank to where the "sharks/fair goldfish" cam kill him. I meam they will mutilate his body because they did to the other ones and now my kids do not want the fair fish anymore and they will be donated to our daughters school since they have pets. Any advice would be much appreaciated. I cant see him hurt anymore…

I have a Calico Ryukim Goldfish that has part of our lives for the last year, his name is Gordita. He is a real character. He likes to swim upside down and float like that. We use to think something was wrong with him. We got him with 2 other fancies, when we got fair fish at the county fair. FOr the last year they were all together, the fancies didnt grow, because we got them at large size. The fair fish grew to be 5 inches by this last year. Alone in the last 2 months the, 2 of the fancies were found dead and their bodies were mutilated. It was really sad. We saw that Gordita ws fine. He was acting normal as usual and taking and living with the fair fish. Well just yesterday, our daughter found him dead or so we thought. My husband went to take him out of the tank and he started swimming around but his eyes were gone. The other fish had torurted him. We didnt know what to do but keep him seperated from the other fish. We are not sure if he is suffering or is his senses are gone or what or is he is going to live. It hurts to see him like that. We thought that he would have passed naturally last night but he was still just swimming slowly in his little bowl. He ate the food we left him. So what do we do? We do not want to see him like this but if we have to live with a goldfish with no eyes and he can live like that..do we do that? What is humane for Gordita? Please help and no we dont like the idea of freezer, toilet or banking hu=is head death…ugh..so frusterating when you love a goldfish… Thanks,

I know nothing about goldfish. My son won two at the fair and of course I have been taking care of them for 3 weeks! My cat is very interested in them and although they are up as high as possible…well, you know cats. I also don't feel the need to keep buying filters for the little aquarium I shelled out money to buy, just because he won two goldfish. I do like the fish, they definitely have their own little personalities and I don't mind having them, but we will be moving soon. No one I know is interested in taking them, so as a last resort, I thought about (wince) "offing" them. I know it's bad, but what else? Now I realize, even taking them to the pet store is better than that. I have called a local aquarium and they said to just bring the fish in, they will find new homes for them! =o) Glad I read your blog first.

HelloIve had my fish for 10 years now but im sure its older. Ive had lots of fish over the years but this one is my sole survivor. Over the oast few months it has been very unwell and over the past few days it was not able to control its swimming at all.The water was clean, and it was not overfed or undefed. I added some aquirum salt and some fresh peas to see if it would help, nothing. The aquirium is big enough, the fish is about 6" and it is a 90l aquirium. Im sure its old age, there have been no signs of improvment and he is really suffering in the tank. I have decided to buy some clove add the fish to a seperate tank and add the clove oil, when im sure it has fell asleep im going to add some vodka to make sure it dies peacefully and painlessly. This is the most humane way to kill a suffering fish, i really love my fish but cant stand to watch it suffer, but i know it has lived a happy life so that puts my mind at ease.

you are all being very cruel here… You think you are being righteous but how can you even think of flushing a fish down the toilet or banging it's head with a rock?About 25.000 people die everyday across the world, and you are trying to kill your fish????Goldfish are high in fish oil and protein, and are very easy to swallow.I cannot believe you could be so cruel and inhumane as to kill your goldfish, when you could at least give your fish the chance to save even just one person's life for even one day. I see this much more humane, as you can help people in need. Most people prefer eating their goldfish while it is still alive, but I recommend frying it in oil and salt.I do not believe in fish being kept for amusement and I resent people who do it. It is a cruel and inhumane thing. And it is morally incorrect to dispose of good food. I am utterly disgusted with all of you.

this website is stupid. my goldfish has been terribly sick and in pain for over 6 months now. i want to find the least painful way to put him to death because i don't want him to suffer anymore – this website hasn't really helped. i don't agree that i should let my goldfish "fight until his last breath". that is extremely cruel. goldfish aren't humans, so why would you compare them to yourself? if you were fighting for your last breath you would be in hospital on painkilling medication. fish don't have that luxury – they just suffer.

Hi,My mum is going to kill our fish (her name is Bubbles) using clove oil and vodka (we found this method on a website made by a scientist who says exactly how to do it). We have decided to put her to sleep because she can hardly swim at all (she has swim bladder disease and has been floating upside down in the same corner of the tank for weeks – she can't even eat anymore and the water is getting really dirty because of all the uneaten food), she has some sort of rot on the base of her tail which looks really sore and blood streaks have started appearing in her fins. I'm not exactly sure how this euthanazing thing works but I'm sure you can find it if you look on the internet. She has been upside down for ages (about a month or more maybe?) and we can't bear to see her suffering anymore. She just won't die! We thought she would have died by now. Another reason we are going to euthanize her is because we have offered to "adopt" another fish from a friend of ours, because they don't have the space for 2 tanks in the house. We wouldn't flush the fish down the toilet or anything anyway. That's just cruel. Oh and by the way we have tried treating her with different fish medicines (ones we can afford anyway) and they have done nothing at all. Sorry this was so long!Anna

We have a koi that is 5yrs old and I think it has swim bladder. Yesterday it was able to turn itself around but today it is upside down. I have tried peas but think it is beyond eating. Is it bad to touch the fish and try and turn it around the right way? I hate seeing it suffer and if there’s no chance it’s going to right itself I’m thinking of putting it out of its misery. How many days would it take to see if it will get better? is the fish in a lot of pain to even try to wait